The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco is the first big investor event of the year for those who follow the health-care industry. This year, 400 companies spanning the sector–including the likes of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Merck & Co. (MRK) and Celgene (CELG)–will make presentations before 9,000 fund managers, analysts and investment advisors.

Associated Press

Sure, executives speaking for medical device makers, hospital chains, PBMs and big health insurers are on the agenda for the coming week. But it is the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that attract the most attention, at least so far.

This year, the event hadn’t even officially started and big news hit the wires late Sunday and early Monday was announced by the likes of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Merck & Co. (MRK), Shire (SHPG) and Roche (RHHBY).

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) jumped 2.5% to $103.83 after data released Sunday from a small early-stage study that showed that its experimental hemophilia therapy helped improve blood clotting, preventing the bleeding that characterizes the disease. Alnylam rose 2.7% to $204.01.

Bristol-Myers rose 4.7% after news broke Sunday regarding a late-stage trial for its drug Opdivo. The study testing the drug in lung cancer was stopped early because it met the study goal, helping lung cancer patients live longer than the chemotherapy docetaxel.

Bristol’s rivalry with Merck in the cancer drug market heated up. Before its presentation at the J.P. Morgan conference, Merck said it plans to push its key drug Keytruda to be used for more types of cancer.

Very early Monday, Swiss drug giant Roche said it is buying a majority stake in diagnostics company Foundation Medicine (FMI) for $1.03 billion. Foundation’s stock price more than doubled in value today, rising to $48.16, while Roche gained 0.7% to $34.70.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) is on a roll. The drug maker shot up 15% during Friday market action to $50, continuing the big gains posted yesterday when Alnylam released positive results from an early-stage clinical trial testing the experimental drug ALN-TTRsc.

Designed to work by shutting off the genes that cause disease, ALN-TTRsc treats transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis, a rare genetic condition in which amyloid proteins build up in tissues, including peripheral nerves and heart. But more importantly, it is one of several drugs Alnylam is developing using so called “gene silencing technology,” and the furthest along in the R&D pipeline.

The company hopes to have ALN-TTRsc in phase 2 clinical trials – the second in three stages of testing needed for regulatory approval — later this year.

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The blog is written by Ben Levisohn, a former stock trader who has covered financial markets for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek.